Message from Helen Taylor that may be of interest:
As many of you know, I work on inbreeding and sperm quality in threatened birds. One of my study species, the hihi or stitchbird, is seriously conservation reliant, but also very expensive to manage and chronically underfunded.
Over the 2017/18 breeding season, I collected data on sperm velocity from 128 male hihi. We have now launched the Great Hihi Sperm Race, where we're asking people to place bets on which of these birds they think will have the fastest sperm. You can enter now at http://www.hihispermrace.nz
Bets cost $10 NZD each (~5 UK pounds or $7 USD) and you can bet on as man birds as you like. Whoever picks the bird with the fastest sperm is in to win some fabulous prizes (many of which can be shipped internationally) and all proceeds go directly to hihi conservation via the hihi recovery group.
If you're not into betting, you can also buy Great Hihi Sperm Race t-shirts in our shop - a must-have for any sperm aficionado/geek!
It's a great opportunity to publicise sperm science to a wide audience while raising some much-needed conservation funding.
If you have any questions at all on this, please let me know. All support and publicity is massively appreciated.
Links to more info: https://sciblogs.co.nz/wild-science/2018/03/26/race-to-help-hihi/
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12019849
I've attached a press release and a poster just in case you have decent media contacts and want to get even more involved!
Thanks!
Helen.
Helen Taylor, PhD
Research fellow
Department of Anatomy
University of Otago
PO Box 913
Dunedin 9054
New Zealand
Phone: +64 (0)21 279 1126
Website: http://helentaylorscience.weebly.com/
Skype: helentaylor23
